rfassett

NECPA, your point about holding off until February is a great one. I have completed and filed one 1040 so far because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything is in. The only ones that I will prepare for the next week are the Corps for which my firm does the books. I know everybody's practice is different and the stresses and pressures come from varying degrees, but I just will not be muscled into preparing 1040's (with the exception of that one) in January or the first week in February. KC - good point. They (the clients) are very easily confused. We in this business, with a completely different frame of reference, too easily forget that. Thanks for the reminder.

Expound please, why is it a rip-off. I am not being argumentative, just wanting to understand.

A lost dog can ruin a perfectly good day. Been there done that - on more than one occasion. My best friend (second to my wife, of course) for many years, took off one day with a pack of dogs that ran through the neighborhood. She was a very young and beautiful German Shepherd. I was out in the yard with her at the time, and when those dogs came by, I guess she thought she had a better offer. This was long before the chip thing and facebook and cell phones and all of that. Three days later we found her. We were walking on one side of a very busy highway and she was lying in a driveway on the other side. It is only by the grace of God that Flower (the dog), my wife and myself did not get hit by traffic when we met in the middle of that road. That moment defined true happiness. Glad your day turned out happy!

This apparently was something new in 2013 when I was AWOL. I have done a little research on it and looked over the myprotectionplus website and think I understand what it is about. For $39 I can buy that coverage for my client but charge my client whatever the market will bear, is that correct? So if I add $50 to everyone's return and pay $39, I have made an additional $11 per return. Now I generally do not like this idea for the same reasons that all those in that camp state, i.e., I would rather have that work for myself and make more than $11. I get that. But alot of us, nay, I would say most of us here are one man shops. Suppose you make it through this season and are struck with a career ending illness or even death. Who is going to take care of all of that stuff in your absence? I guess my question is, is this a peace of mind thing for me more than it is for my client? And maybe I should charge them just the $39 upcharge and see where the dice fall? And there is nothing written, I believe, that says the Protection Plus benefit MUST be used. So if we are alive and kicking and here for another round and an opportunity presents, we can still be involved and bill the client. Just some rambling thoughts on a cold snowy and raining day. I looked outside a little bit ago and the flakes were so big they looked almost like snow balls. I apologize if this Protection Plus debate has already been beat into the ground. If so, just point me to some of the discussion. Thanks.

Agreed - the one return I have completed and e-filed went through like a hot knife in butter. Very sweet! Would that the remainder of the season would continue in that vein.

Sounds good to me!

I am more of a keep things normal sort of professional and would suggest sending the returns in separate envelopes with no explanation. When the penalty notice is received, then ask for abatement. I sense that you are attempting to get a waiver based on first time for all the years. '13 and '10 do not sound like they will have an issue. '12 sounds like a very minimal issue that I would tell the client to pay because it would be cheaper than what they are going to pay ME to mess with it. You can try to get it combined with the 2011, but I think you will spend a lot of time for very little return. The '11 is where the big penalty will be and that is the one that I would want to single out for sure. I do not think it would matter a lot where they are sent. People move all the time and their estimates seem to catch up to where they go. Just be sure that the first ssn on the estimates is the first ssn on the return. Pacun asks a valid question. Who is going to sign the returns? Is your client the executor of the father's estate? I understand he is the POA for Mom, but if you are filing joint returns, I believe you need both signatures - at least for 2010, 2011, and 2012. Mom, via POA, can sign the '13 as surviving spouse, but I do not think that stretches back to 2010 - 2012. I could be wrong about that but it might be something you want to look into.

Yes - hugs back at ya! Our phones were extremely busy too. We are wrapping up payroll reports and 1099s. I think we have a corner on all of those at this point. There are still some 1099s that need to be completed but those should wrap by Friday - well maybe Monday. And then it is on to bigger and better things. The returns are rolling in the door. My prize call today was from a name I did not recognize and I got on the phone to find it was an attorney for one of my clients and they (the three clients (Mom, Dad and Son)) and the attorney were on speaker phone. "We (Mom and Dad) are transferring the bar to our Son. What is the best way to do that? Stock or asset?" Really? A heads up to this call would have been nice. But I REALLY like these folks so I will not be too hard on them. We talked it out and got a plan put together. Oh - and then there is the very in depth audit I have going on. It is a Schedule C and Schedule F and one of those random we are going to audit every line on the return audits. The auditor expanded the audit to each year on either side of the original because the client was not forthcoming with info. He is now - he has been coming into my office unannounced on almost a daily basis with a new bag of info. That was another half hour today. New input tab for Form 8283? I will have to check that out before the day is over. Aawww hhhhaaaa hhhhaaa hhhaaaaa!!!!!!!

Query - doesn't the online FAFSA pull an IRS transcript (if permission is granted) when the transcript becomes available? It has been a couple of years since I have looked at that, but that sticks in my mind. Fact or dream?

I use Crash Plan to backup my whole computer at home. I used that for a year or so to make sure it did what it promised. And wanting an off site back up for the office, I decided to use their commercial product for the office. I backup the whole server. The first backup took 18 days if my memory serves correct, but now it backs up in real time every few minutes. The home plan I believe was around $60 per year. The office costs me $10 per month. Not free, but an excellent product in my opinion.

Yeah, but that would have to assume that I WANT to start it. If I get it started I risk having to use it while standing out in the cold. Whereas, I can sit in my warm pickup with the Snow Dog plow on the front and look like I am working just as hard.

Oh, and I probably need to talk to your husband anyway. Back several years ago when we were living in town, I bought one of those big walk behind snow blowers - 2 stage, self propelled with tracks, brake type steering, electric start - the whole nine yards.........for my WIFE. I had very little interest in messing with it but she would get all bundled up and go out and clean up the whole dang block - both sides of the streets - sidewalks and driveways. The thing was sitting in the garage a couple weeks ago and I was going to use it to clean up in front of the garage (because my wife broke her ankle and had surgery five weeks before) and then I realized that I did not even know how to start it. How cool is that?

Call support. The times I have had these kinds of issues they have been very good at taking whatever time it took to resolve the issue. They will probably remote into your system to see what needs to be done. Good luck!

Have him bring it up to our place. We live on the south side of a mountain with a west to east wind blowing most of the time and drifting in my driveway pretty regularly. My drive is a about a third of a mile long and winding so he can blow snow in the wind to his hearts content. Our next significant snow is scheduled for Thursday. Glad to hear the good reports. The extra 5" we were suppose to get overnight turned into about 2". I think Thursday is to bring another 3 to 5.

Aaaawwwww - now I am blushing.

That sounds like a plan! Just make sure you keep good notes.

This should come as no surprise. After the fiasco of 2012, it was pretty well understood that the 2013 was going to problematic on a network. I stated very often that from what I read and heard and saw, those running ATX 2013 on a stand alone system would have an incredible product to work with; but those on a network were going to have issues. That was my biggest impetus to leaving ATX after the 2012 year. My firm IS network based and I was just not willing to take the risk after the way the 2012 product acted. My research indicates that those problems have been addressed and that is why I came back to ATX this year. I also was a long time user - going back to 1995, I believe.

My thoughts and prayers are with you folks as well. I am on the western most edge of this storm and we have had snow continuing most of the day. We have about 3 inches of new snow and the prediction is another 5 overnight and into early tomorrow. But that just is not a big deal here. What you folks in the direct line of fire for this storm need to be concerned about, as you are already aware, is the wind. Please check in when you can so we will know how you are doing. Good luck! And God Speed!

And the allocation of income in a partnership has nothing to do with GP. If the concern is allocating SE income to a capital only contributor then I would say that a Limited Partnership would be a better fit. I have the exact scenario you describe for your farmer client several times over and they are all LPs.

That is a pretty big stretch. All of my partnership clients operate with an agreement. All of them. I will not have a partnership client without one.

Actually, this is what 707(c ) states: (c ) Guaranteed payments To the extent determined without regard to the income of the partnership, payments to a partner for services or the use of capital shall be considered as made to one who is not a member of the partnership, but only for the purposes of section 61(a) (relating to gross income) and, subject to section 263, for purposes of section 162(a) (relating to trade or business expenses). I will concede that it does not HAVE to be in the partnership agreement. But I will also state that I have NEVER seen a partner paid without regard to the income of the partnership where such arrangement was not stated in the partnership agreement. I do a fair amount of partnership work so this is not just an off the cuff remark. If the guy gets a draw because the partnership had income and did not get one when the partnership had no income, it is prima facet evidence that the payment was tied to the partnership generating income and not some sort of guaranteed payment. Likewise, if the partner receives a check, regardless of the partnership generating income (with funds say coming from an LOC or another partner contribution) then this would be prima facet evidence of guaranteed payments. In the present case, although it is not stated, I was simply encouraging the OP to look to the partnership agreement for a clue as to the treatment of those payments.

You go girl. 5 pounds is a big deal. It is not "only 5". Keep up the great work!

I hear you. But the fact of the matter, I have a hard enough time keeping my head above water, or put another way, my sleep time is way to precious to spend time doing the kind of research you seem to have time to do. I guess if this clientele was a bigger part of my practice, I suppose I would take the time. But it just isn't. So I enjoy reading about others experiences. Another case of displaying how all of our practices differ in many ways.

Yes you can amend those years for tax due. Isn't it cool when we get a client with a conscience? Good luck!

Thanks Tom! That's good information to know.